Mother Chen’s expression froze instantly upon hearing these words, and a tide of terror and panic spread through her eyes.
"You, you..." *You remember?*
She stared at Shu He in a daze, momentarily at a loss for how to react.
Chen Xiaohe’s brows furrowed, a flash of panic crossing her face, but she quickly steadied herself. "Mother, she is already a 'dead woman.' We don't need to be afraid of her!"
Even if she remembered, so what? Could she come back to life and reclaim her status?
Mother Chen perked up, joy appearing on her face. That’s right! How had she not thought of that? Even if her memory returned, what waves could a "dead woman" possibly make? Besides, she had the First Mistress backing her!
Shu He, however, had lost her patience. She snatched the wooden club from Mother Chen’s hand and struck her knee with a fierce blow. A heart-rending scream erupted in the narrow alley, echoing into the distance.
Onlookers outside the gate watched the scene in horror, their faces filled with dread. To think a servant would dare strike their mistress—this was an unforgivable crime! If reported to the authorities, she would be paraded through the streets and beheaded in the market square.
"Shu He! You—are you insane?!!"
Hearing the sound of bones shattering, Chen Xiaohe felt a chill run through her entire body. Yet, seeing her mother’s agonizing screams, she cast aside her own fear and instinctively hugged Mother Chen, shielding her in her arms.
"You were originally the most menial of my Shu family’s servants," Shu He said, standing up with some difficulty as she held Xiao Yi'er in her left arm and the club in her right. "Yet, you took advantage of my amnesia to usurp your master. Mother Chen, you have a lot of nerve!"
Mother Chen looked at Shu He in terror, as if she were a total stranger. How had she become so fierce? Even back when she was the legitimate daughter of the Shu family, she had never possessed such a temperament.
"Who—who are you?" Mother Chen asked, her face contorted with fear, her voice trembling.
"Do you really not know who I am?" A flicker of ruthlessness flashed in Shu He's eyes again, and the club in her hand landed heavily on Mother Chen’s other knee.
"Ah!! Stop hitting me! Stop it, Third Miss, I beg you..." Piercing pain flooded every nerve, making it impossible for her to think; all she could do was instinctively beg for mercy.
"Miss?! That Mother Chen called her Miss? What is going on? Isn't she a servant that Mother Chen bought?"
"I don't know. I heard the woman say that this mother-daughter pair was bought a year ago. Mother Chen and her lot were servants for a wealthy family in the Capital, and because they managed the estate well, they earned their masters' favor, who allowed them to buy two people to help out."
"But looking at the situation now, it doesn't seem that simple!"
...
Terrified by Shu He’s ferocious appearance, Chen Xiaohe kept backing away until she turned and fled, regardless of Mother Chen’s heart-rending cries.
Watching Chen Xiaohe’s retreating back, Shu He knew exactly what she was planning to do. But that was fine—it saved her the trouble of hunting them down one by one!
Seeing Shu He approaching her with a cold, icy gaze, Mother Chen scrambled backward, enduring the excruciating pain until her clothes were worn through at the seat. "Third Miss, please spare me! It wasn’t my wish to treat you this way; I was only following orders!"
"Following orders?" Shu He’s gaze flickered, the face of a poised and elegant woman flashing through her mind.
"Yes, yes, it was the First Mistress! She said you disgraced the Shu family’s reputation and must never appear in the Capital again! Her original intention was to have you wrapped in a straw mat and buried alive. It was I who couldn't bear it and saved you secretly!" Mother Chen clung to these words like a life-saving straw, weeping and pleading for merit, hoping to escape her fate.
Shu He did have memories of that time, but it wasn't as this woman described.
When that scandal happened, the Shu family's reputation was indeed tarnished by her. To protect the names of her own children, the First Mistress, Guan Huizhi, had goaded Shu Kelin into casting her out to an estate in the outskirts of Yuancheng to fend for herself.
At first, she still enjoyed the treatment of a young lady of the Shu house; at least no one dared to bully her. But later, when she discovered she was pregnant, she had returned to the General's Estate on her own, hoping her father would allow her to return for the sake of the child and to seek a marriage with Prince Dongli. After all, the child in her womb was Prince Dongli’s own flesh and blood.
But upon returning to the Capital, she learned that Prince Dongli had been accused of treason and exiled to the frontier. By then, there was no longer any Prince Dongli.
She never saw her father, Shu Kelin. All that greeted her were the vicious words of the First Mistress, Guan Huizhi.
"You used such vile means to crawl into Prince Dongli's bed; the Shu family’s face was lost long ago because of you! To dare return to the Capital—do you want the whole world to know of your shame?"
"Look at your own character! Dull, foolish, and bloated with fat—what noble family in the Capital has a young lady as unsightly as you? To dream of becoming the Princess Consort of Dongli is like a toad lusting after a swan—it is the greatest joke in the world!"
"Our Shu family does not have a daughter like you who lacks virtue and disgraces the family! Tomorrow, the Shu family will announce that the eldest daughter has died of illness!"
"Guards, take her to the most remote estate and let her fend for herself!!"
And so, Shu He was sent to the West Suburbs of Yuancheng, three hundred miles from the Capital.
The estate was managed by an old servant named Chen Sanhei. At first, Chen Sanhei was wary of her status as a young lady and remained somewhat respectful. Later, when Shu He hemorrhaged while giving birth, she nearly died. But she was stubborn and survived.
However, after waking up, she had lost her previous memories. Yet, even without her memory, the moment she saw the infant beside her, she recognized it as her child—and the child of the person she could never forget.
Life remained peaceful for a time. But a year ago, Shu He’s world turned upside down. The Chen couple seemed like different people; they began to torment Shu He relentlessly, claiming she was a servant they had bought and that if she wanted to survive and raise the child, she had to work herself to the bone.
The Shu He of the past had weighed two hundred pounds. Even after the quality of her life plummeted after giving birth, she had weighed over one hundred and thirty. Yet, in just this one year as a servant, Shu He had been covered in wounds, her body thin as paper. Even Xiao Yi'er suffered from severe malnutrition.
Though already three years old, her frame looked like that of a two-year-old—short, sickly, and bony, as if a single gust of wind could blow her away.
Shu He held Xiao Yi'er tightly against her chest, careful not to hurt her with too much force. Remembering how Xiao Yi'er had been kicked away by Mother Chen, her rage reached its peak. She glared at Mother Chen like a demon returned from hell, her icy, cold face radiating a chill that froze the woman opposite her.
Shu He dropped the wooden club and pulled a pair of scissors from beneath her pillow in the woodshed. Lately, Chen Sanhei had been trying to force himself upon her; had it not been for these scissors, she would have lost her purity long ago.
Walking out of the woodshed, she approached Mother Chen step by step. "You could lay such a vicious hand on a three-year-old child. If I don't kill you, how can my child vent this hatred?"
"You, what are you doing?!"
Mother Chen scrambled backward, trying to escape, but the slender figure approaching her seemed like a demoness from hell, her face twisted in a way that made one's soul tremble.
"Third Miss, you can't kill me! It was the First Mistress who ordered it, it really was! She sent a letter a year ago, instructing us to 'take good care' of you, saying as long as you didn't die, it was fine! I was only following orders!!"
A cold light flashed in Shu He’s eyes. She plunged the rusted scissors directly into Mother Chen’s neck. Blood sprayed, staining the courtyard wall red. Mother Chen clutched her throat, the terror still lingering in her eyes, before her body twitched twice and she collapsed to the ground.
The commoners watching from outside the gate screamed in chaos, shouting incessantly, "Murder! Murder!"